Mitchell Hadley's Blog: It's About TV!, page 53
May 13, 2023
This week in TV Guide: May 15, 1953
I have a question for those of you out there reading this. (If you're not reading this, then never mind.) How do you all feel about TV Guides from the 1950s? Do you have any interest in them, or do you prefer issues from the '60s, '70s, and '80s? Do the stars and the shows resonate with you, or is it too far back for you to have any connection with them? The reason I ask is because we don't get a lot of feedback on these early issues, and it would be helpful for me to know if they just don't float your boat. I've got an issue from 1955 scheduled for next week, so it'll probably be too late for me to make any changes to that one, but it will guide me going forward. In the meantime, I'll try to concentrate on anything that looks interesting.And to that point, I know there are a lot of Ozzie and Harriet fans out there, so we'll take a look at this week's cover story on Ricky and David Nelson. It's a short article (only a page long) and mostly about Ricky, but it tells us something about how things used to work back then. Each boy makes $1,600 per week—$1,100 for the television series and $500 for the radio series (which ran from 1954 to 1954). The boys don't get to enjoy much of that money, though; 12-year-old Ricky, for instance, gets an allowance of $1.50 per week. He also gets reminders from mom, dad, and big brother to keep from getting a big head—"Don't be a child actor," they remind him.
It's hard to deny his star power, though. At a recent church dance, it was Ricky, not older brother David, who got the dances with all the girls, even though he was four years younger than the youngest of them. (He told them he was older—13.) He also has a sharp eye for clothes, having recently ordered a Tattersall vest just like Ozzie's; the elder Nelson toled the salesman that "from now on you check with me before you charge anything." He used to go to a public school, but because of the many absences required by the show, he now has a private tutor. He's also an athlete, fast and agile. Harriet calls Ricky "intelligent and understand of adults," and adds that he's straightforward and not a troublemaker. The principal of the school he used to attend calls him "a very free soul." And that does lead me to wonder about his sad adult life, which ended at age 45. It's hard to believe that any child star has a "normal" childhood, but even with that, was this free soul ever really allowed to be a real teenager? Did Harriet, who had "certain expectations" for his career, allow him to find his own life? But all this in the future, of course.
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Speaking of "boys," Mark Goodson and Bill Todman are a bit too old to have that label applied to them in a literal way, but there's no doubt they're the "Golden Boys" of television right now, with seven primetime programs airing across the three network—and all of them based around the question mark.
It all started for the duo with a radio quiz show, Winner Take All (and they currently have two shows going on radio), but their major success comes from television. Six of the seven Goodson-Todman shows are quiz shows: What's My Line?, The Name's the Same, It's News to Me, I've Got a Secret, Two For the Money, and Beat the Clock. (The seventh show, The Web, is a mystery series; the question involves "whodunit.") Their success is based on a simple formula that they apply to each show: first, spontaneous humor. The "unwritten ending" that's inherent in a quiz show means that "all the humor that occurs is spontaneous," Todman says. "That's why if I tell you a certain ad lib that Herb Shriner or Groucho Marx made to a contestant, it isn't nearly as funny as if you'd heard it first hand." It's also important to have a well-balanced panel of celebrities. "The idea is to get people who are well known," says Todman. "But we don't want their specialized knowledge on our show. We just want them to be themselves."That became a problem with comedy writer Hal Block, one of the first permanent panelists on What's My Line? "Hal never was able to live with the idea of being a celebrity," according to Todman. "When he started on the show he had no trouble at all. Bujt after a little publicity. . ." And while newspaper columnist Dorothy Kilgallen has her critics, "we haven't had many complaints about her," Todman says. "She's a good deductive reasoner and is loaded with feminine intuition." The crown jewel is, of course, John Daly, moderator of both What's My Line? and It's News to Me (while continuing as a news reporter and executive), and one of the most urbane men ever to appear on American television. (He has "an apparently endless and effortless charm.") Goodson says "He rules a panel with a velvet whip," and he will be the one constant in WML?'s 17½ year run.
For people today, What's My Line? and I've Got a Secret are probably the two best-known of the early Goodson-Todman stable, and thanks to GSN (and now Buzzr), people can still see the charm and wit of these shows, and how they reflect the days of early television.
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Sporting event of the week: well, that would have to be the world heavyweight boxing championship fight on Friday (9:00 p.m. CT, NBC), pitting heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano against Jersey Joe Walcott, the former champion, live from Chicago Stadium. The two men first met last September, when Marciano, then the challenger, scored one of the greatest knockout blows in boxing history to take the title from Walcott. According to TV Guide's sports editor, the great sportswriter Red Smith, the key to this week's bout is Marciano's nose; it had been broken by his sparring partner while in training, forcing the fight to be rescheduled from its original April 10 date. The injury was the talk of the sporting world, or, as Smith puts it, "the greatest gush of literature created about anybody's beezer since Rostand wrote 'Cyrano de Bergerac.' "
Walcott, the crafty veteran, will be trying to take advantage of that injury in this, Marciano's first title defense, and everyone expects the same kind of brawl that marked their first fight, when Walcott battered and bloodied Marciano through 12 rounds, only to see the Rock flatten Walcott in the 13th round. But with anticipation running high, anyone who stepped out for a beer and was late getting back to his seat is going to be in for a disappointment when, a little over two minutes into the first round, Marciano launches a right uppercut that sends Walcott sprawling on his back. Walcott takes the count sitting, apparently unhurt, until the referee counts him out, and then protests what he says is a fast count. Did Jersey Joe throw this, his last fight, or was it simply a case of being mentally unprepared to face Marciano a half-year ago? To this day, you can make arguments either way. What is known for sure is that Marciano retains his title en route to being hailed as one of the great champions of all time; and that as far as this fight goes, the anticipation far outweighs the reality.l l l
Let's take a look at some of the other non-quiz-show, non-sports shows worth tuning into this week.
The era of Saturday morning cartoons is a relatively narrow one; they're a thing of the past today, and they hadn't yet been introduced in the days of this issue. So what did kids watch on Saturday mornings? Well, for one thing, broadcasting didn't even start until 9:00 a.m., when WBKB came on the air. But count on live-action kids's shows, Westerns and space adventures; WBKB has Rogue of the Rio Grande on at 9:00 a.m. and Space Patrol on at 10:00 a.m., while WBBM offers the circus show Big Top at 11:00 a.m. Similar programming continues well into the afternoon.
You know how often I talk about how "the more things change, the more they stay the same"? Here's an example for you, on Sunday afternoon's American Forum of the Air. (1:30 p.m., NBC) The topic: "What Should Be the U.S. Immigration Policy?" Surprisingly, the debate is between two Democrats; surprising because nowadays it's almost impossible to get two people from the same party to have differing opinions.
Here's something of interest: Grace Kelly, two years away from winning an Oscar for Best Actress and three years before becoming Princess Grace of Monaco, appears in the Hollywood Screen Test presentation "Right Hand Man." (Monday, 6:30 p.m., ABC) Fun fact: Hollywood Screen Test, which sought to give exposure to relatively unknown actors by teaming them up with established stage and screen actors, was the first regularly broadcast television series by ABC. Also on Monday, CBS's Studio One (9:00 p.m.) presents "The Laugh Maker," with Jackie Gleason and Art Carney. Gleason plays a version of himself, a nightclub and television comedian who turns out to be anything but the lovable character his fans know, while Carney is the reporter sent to do a feature story on him. Gleason and Carney had already been working together since 1950; this is a chance to see them both in a different light.
There's nothing special on Tuesday, although I'm always amused that the daytime program listings include descriptions for soap operas. For instance, on The Guiding Light (11:45 a.m., CBS), "Mrs. Grant visits Kathy in the hospital & upsets her." That's too bad for Kathy; hope the nurse throws Mrs Grant out! But on Search For Tomorrow (11:00 a.m., CBS), "Pearl March reveals a secret." Shouldn't that be on The Secret Storm?
On Wednesday, Ralph Bellamy stars as private detective Mike Barnett in Man Against Crime (8:30 p.m., CBS). Bellamy talks with TV Guide's reporter about the differences between his show and other crime stories on TV; for one thing, he and the police have a cordial relationship. "When something omes up that is within the jurisdiction of the police, he calls them in. He thinks they all have at least average I.Q.'s and quite a few of them are intelligent." He also never carries a gun, relying instead on the self-defense techniques used by operatives in the underground and behind the Iron Curtain. Bellamy's route to Man Against Crime, which started in 1949 and will run until 1954, has been interesting, to say the least. His movie career became stymied when he was typecast as the "naive boyfriend" who always loses the girl to the glamorous star; instead, he returned to the Broadway stage, where he appeareed in a string of hits: Tomorrow the World, State of the Union, and Detective Story (which ran for two years). He says he's not sure what the future holds; he'd like to go back to roles about people, rather than cops and robbers, and he might even write a play sometime. And though he's successfully shaken his movie typecasting, some of his greatest successes are still ahead: a Tony Award for Sunrise at Campobello, the story of Franklin D. Roosevelt's triumph against polio, which he reprised in the film version; four terms as president of Actors' Equity; an appearance on Studio One with William Shatner in "The Defender" (which eventually became a series with E.G. Marshall and Robert Reed); two more turns as FDR in The Winds of War and War and Remembrance; the Eddie Murphy movie Trading Places; a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild; an Honorary Academy Award; and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He worked steadily until his death in 1991.
Thursday evening—well, every weekday evening, for that matter—NBC presents the Camel News Caravan, presented by John Cameron Swayze (6:45 p.m.), and that is this week's "Program of the Week." News Caravan, which debuted five years ago, was "network TV's first attempt to usurp the role of pictorial reporting preveiously held by the newsreels." Although the network originally used Fox Movietone camermen for their film footage, they were soon able to set up their own staff of cameramen, who've won critical plaudits. In the time since then, the program has gone on to use instant switching between cities to cover news in the making, was the first to use jets to fly in films from places where live pickups were uavailable, and has become "a skillful-roundup nightly of world news events." Today the program is, according to Bob Stahl's review, "a polished product, a combination of live and film coverage," complete with switches to Washington correspondents for the latest news.
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Finally, even when we're looking at issues of the past, we always have an eye on potential stars of the future, so we'll end with this look at "the blondes, brunettes and redheads" with hopes for the future, and see if any of them made it.
The most successful is probably Judy Tyler, who plays Princess Summerfall Winterspring on Howdy Doody. (We read her, uh, interesting story
here
.) She's one of "the hundreds wo besiege the production offices and haunt the model agencies," and beat out more than 200 girls who auditioned for Howdy Doody. (I'm sure she worked hard to get that job.) The stauesque blonde Siri—no, not the computer voice, although it is an interesting coincidence—has "a comic gift for doing strange things to the English language," and admits "I know I have no talent as an actress. My dream is to work steadly as straight-woman with comedians—like
Dagmar
." Georgia Landeau "never passes up a job," whether modeling, doing commercials, or performing a walk-on. Shirley Cotler wants to be "top commerial talent" and makes $170 a week performing in the chorus at the Copacabana nightclub. Linda Lombard, discovered on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, does go on to make several movies, in mostly uncredited roles.None of these young women made the big time, but they all had talent, and all knew what they wanted to do. Several of them succeeded in getting roles, and while they may not have been big ones, they at least gave it their best shot, and one hopes they were able to achieve some satisfaction from that. Not every issue provides us with a big revelation of a future star, but like these women, we don't stop trying. TV
May 12, 2023
Around the dial
I just finished watching a Road Runner-Coyote cartoon, so you'll forgive me if I have that on my mind even as I'm linking to John's story about the X-Files episode "
Roadrunners
," this week at Cult TV Blog.Something else I've thought about lately is the pleasure of holding a physical copy of a magazine in your hands after it's just arrived in the mail, and what it was like to have that to look forward to. At Comfort TV, David recalls how magazines mattered in classic TV shows; those were the days.
I don't often do current television, but when you see a character named "Bearclaw Bugle," well, you're not going to pass it up. That's part of Gill's review of the TV-movie The Warrant: Breaker's Law over at Realweegiemidget, so head over there and find out if this is for you.
No story to read here, but I couldn't resist linking to the Broadcast Archives and this ultra-cool picture of the greatest entertainment center you're ever going to see. I don't know what it would look like in our living room, and I'm not sure I'd care.
Newton Minow, one of the major figures in television history, died last weekend, aged 97. Yes, it's true that the boat in Gilligan's Island was named after him, but he also delivered the "vast wasteland" speech that defines how we look at television even now. Terence remembers him at A Shroud of Thoughts.
Robert at Television Obscurites reports on yet another rare television series coming to DVD, courtesy of ClassicFlix: World of Giants . It's only 13 episodes, but it's excellent that obscure shows continue to come out, and let's hope for more.
Whenever there's another Avengers review at The View from the Junkyard, you can bet you're going to read about it here. This week: " Dial a Deadly Number ," a fine Steed-Emma episode; check and see what Roger and Mike have to say. TV
May 10, 2023
May 8, 2023
What's on TV? Tuesday, May 6, 1980
Not only do we see the basketball and hockey playoffs this week, we're also in the midst of the presidential playoffs! The Texas primary was Saturday, and today we've got primaries in Indiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, and the District of Columbia. On the GOP side, Ronald Reagan already has things all but wrapped up; George Bush, his only remaining opponent, wins only Washington, D.C. and he'll withdraw by the end of the month. The Democrats, on the other hand, are still battling it out mano a mano; like Reagan, President Carter loses only in D.C.; his rival, Senator Edward Kennedy, has some late momentum after the failed Iranian hostage rescue attempt last month, but at this point Carter has a dominant lead and wins the nomination later in the summer. In this long, drawn out playoff season, Reagan and Carter (and independent John Anderson) won't meet in the playoff finals until November; gotta give the advantage to the stick-and-ball sports this time. The listings come to us live from the Kentucky edition.-3- WAVE (LOUISVILLE) (NBC) MORNING 6 AM TODAY IN WAVE COUNTRY 7 AM TODAY—Tom Brokaw Guest: Susan Strasberg 9 AM PASSWORD PLUS—Game Betty White, Greg Morris. Host: Bill Cullen 9:30 DOCTORS 10 AM CARD SHARKS 10:30 HOLLYWOOD SQUARES—Game Didi Conn, Mary Crosby, George Gobel, Judy Landers, Barbara Mandrell, Jan Murray, Vincent Price, Skip Stephenson, Wayland & Madame. Host: Peter Marshall 11 AM HIGH ROLLERS—Game 11:30 WHEEL OF FORTUNE—Game AFTERNOON Noon MIDDAY 12:30 MIKE DOUGLAS Co-host: Billy Cristal. Guests: Dick Martin, Judy Carter, Pinky Lee 1:30 DAYS OF OUR LIVES 2:30 ANOTHER WORLD 4 PM MOVIE—Comedy “Let’s Switch!” (Made-for-TV; 1975) 5:30 NEWS EVENING 6 PM NEWS 6:30 NBC NEWS—John Chancellor/David Brinkley 7 PM PLAY THE PERCENTAGES—Games 7:30 POP GOES THE COUNTRY—Music Guests: Ray Stevens, Dottsy 8 PM MISADVENTURES OF SHERIFF LOBO 9 PM BIG SHOW Hosts: Gene Kelly and Nancy Walker. Guests: Sherman Hemsley, Mel Tillis. Georgia Engel, Placido Domingo, Kriztina Regoczy, and Andras Sallay, Picasso, Sean Morey, Monteith and Rand, the Two Ronnies 11 PM NEWS 11:30 PRIMARY COVERAGE Special: Indiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Washington, D.C. Mid. TONIGHT Scheduled: Diahann Carroll, Joe Garagiola 1:30 TOMORROW—Snyder 2:30 NEWS
5 WLWT (CINCINNATI) (NBC) MORNING 5:50 GOOD MORNING 6 AM PTL CLUB—Religion 7 AM TODAY—Tom Brokaw Guest: Susan Strasberg 9 AM PHIL DONAHUE Guest: Mike Douglas 10 AM CARD SHARKS 10:30 HOLLYWOOD SQUARES—Game Didi Conn, Mary Crosby, George Gobel, Judy Landers, Barbara Mandrell, Jan Murray, Vincent Price, Skip Stephenson, Wayland & Madame. Host: Peter Marshall 11 AM DOCTORS—Serial 11:30 MIDDAY AFTERNOON Noon BOB BRAUN—Variety 1:30 DAYS OF OUR LIVES 2:30 ANOTHER WORLD 4 PM STARSKY & HUTCH 5 PM STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO—Crime Drama EVENING 6 PM NEWS 6:30 NBC NEWS—John Chancellor/David Brinkley 7 PM HOLLYWOOD SQUARES—Game Guests: Vincent Price, Dianne Kay, Jimmie Walker, Skiles & Henderson, Harvey Korman, Valerie Bertinelli, George Gobel, Christopher Norris 7:30 MUPPET SHOW—Variety Guest: Doug Henning 8 PM BASEBALL Cincinnati Reds at New York Mets 10:30 $100,000 NAME THAT TUNE 11 PM NEWS 11:30 PRIMARY COVERAGE Special: Indiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Washington, D.C. Mid. TONIGHT Scheduled: Diahann Carroll, Joe Garagiola 1:30 TOMORROW—Snyder
9 WCPO (CINCINNATI) (CBS) MORNING 5:30 CHRISTOPHER CLOSEUP 5:45 FARM NEWS 6 AM SUNRISE SEMESTER Learning to Write/Writing to Learn 6:30 ED ALLEN—Exercise 7 AM TUESDAY MORNING 8 AM CAPTAIN KANGAROO 9 AM UNCLE AL 10 AM JEFFERSONS 10:30 WHEW!—Game Robert Mandan, Joan Prather 10:55 CBS NEWS—Douglas Edwards 11 AM PRICE IS RIGHT AFTERNOON Noon NOON REPORT 1 PM YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS—Serial 2 PM AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial 3 PM GUIDING LIGHT 4 PM MOVIE—Mystery “Night Watch” (1973) EVENING 6 PM NEWS 6:30 CBS NEWS—Walter Cronkite 7 PM 7 O’CLOCK REPORT 7:30 JOKER’S WILD—Game 8 PM WHITE SHADOW 9 PM MOVIE—Drama “Like Mom, Like Me” (Made-for-TV; 1978) 11 PM NEWS 11:30 PRIMARY COVERAGE Special: Indiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Washington, D.C. 11:45 TO BE ANNOUNCED 2 AM NORMAN VINCENT PEALE—Religion 2:30 NEWS
11 WHAS (LOUISVILLE) (CBS) MORNING 6 AM ED ALLEN—Exercise 6:30 LOUISVILLE TONIGHT 7 AM TUESDAY MORNING 8 AM CAPTAIN KANGAROO 9 AM YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS 10 AM JEFFERSONS 10:30 MARY TYLER MOORE—Comedy 11 AM PRICE IS RIGHT AFTERNOON Noon NEWS 12:30 BOB BRAUN—Variety 1:30 SEARCH FOR TOMORROW 2 PM AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial 3 PM GUIDING LIGHT 4 PM RAZZMATAZZ—Children 4:30 BEVERLY HILLBILLIES 5 PM ANDY GRIFFITH—Comedy BW 5:30 M*A*S*H EVENING 6 PM NEWS 6:30 CBS NEWS—Walter Cronkite 7 PM LOUISVILLE TONIGHT 7:30 FACE THE MUSIC—Game 8 PM WHITE SHADOW 9 PM MOVIE—Drama “Like Mom, Like Me” (Made-for-TV; 1978) 11 PM NEWS 11:30 PRIMARY COVERAGE Special: Indiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Washington, D.C. 11:45 TO BE ANNOUNCED 2 AM NEWS
12 WKRC (CINCINNATI) (ABC) MORNING 5:30 HEALTH FIELD 6 AM CONSULTATION—Medicine 6:30 NEW ZOO REVUE 7 AM GOOD MORNING AMERICA—David Hartman Guest: Bob Newhart, Mrs. Thurman Munson 9 AM EDGE OF NIGHT—Serial 9:30 $20,000 PYRAMID—Game Didi Conn, Soupy Sales. Host: Dick Clark 10 AM MIKE DOUGLAS Co-host: Steve Landesberg. Guests: Diana Canova, Oliver Reed. 11 AM LAVERNE & SHIRLEY 11:30 FAMILY FEUD—Game AFTERNOON Noon EXTRA! 12:30 RYAN’S HOPE—Serial 1 PM ALL MY CHILDREN 2 PM ONE LIFE TO LIVE 3 PM GENERAL HOSPITAL 4 PM DINAH! & FRIENDS Co-host: Don Meredith. Guests: Isabel Sanford, Mike Evans, Berlinda Tolbert, Roxie Roker, Marla Gibbs, Franklin Cover 5:30 NEWS EVENING 6:30 ABC NEWS—Frank Reynolds 7 PM TIC TAC DOUGH—Game 7:30 PM MAGAZINE 8 PM HAPPY DAYS 8:30 LAVERNE & SHIRLEY 9 PM THREE’S COMPANY 9:30 TAXI 10 PM HART TO HART 11 PM NEWS 11:30 ABC NEWS—Ted Koppel 11:50 SOAP 1 AM SOUL TRAIN—Music The Spinners, Con funk shun 2 AM MOVIE—Western BW “Apache Uprising” (1953) [Time approximate.] 4 AM MOVIE—Drama BW “Easy Living” (1949)
15 WKPC (CINCINNATI) (PBS) MORNING 7:15 A.M. WEATHER 7:30 SESAME STREET—Children 8:30 ELECTRIC COMPANY—Children 11 AM ELECTRIC COMPANY—Children AFTERNOON Noon SESAME STREET—Children 3 PM LOOK AT ME—Phil Donahue 3:30 HODGEPODGE LODGE 4 PM SESAME STREET 5 PM MISTER ROGERS 5:30 ELECTRIC COMPANY—Children EVENING 6 PM ZOOM—Children 6:30 OVER EASY—Hugh Downs [Closed-captioned for hearing-impaired viewers.] 7 PM MacNEIL/LEHRER REPORT 7:30 DICK CAVETT Guest: Dorothy Loudon 8 PM NOVA [Closed-captioned for hearing-impaired viewers.] 9 PM MYSTERY! “Sergeant Cribb,” episode 1 [Closed-captioned for hearing-impaired viewers.] 10 PM AUSTIN CITY LIMITS Guests: Mel Tillis and the Statesiders, Cail Davies 11 PM DICK CAVETT Guest: Dorothy Loudon 11:30 CAPTIONED ABC NEWS
18 WLEX (LEXINGTON) (NBC) MORNING 6 AM PTL CLUB—Religion 7 AM TODAY—Tom Brokaw Guest: Susan Strasberg 9 AM PHIL DONAHUE Guest: Mike Douglas 10 AM CARD SHARKS 10:30 HOLLYWOOD SQUARES—Game Didi Conn, Mary Crosby, George Gobel, Judy Landers, Barbara Mandrell, Jan Murray, Vincent Price, Skip Stephenson, Wayland & Madame. Host: Peter Marshall 11 AM HIGH ROLLERS—Game 11:30 DOCTORS—Serial AFTERNOON Noon NEWS 12:30 BOB BRAUN—Variety 1:30 DAYS OF OUR LIVES 2:30 ANOTHER WORLD 4 PM SUPERMAN—Adventure BW 4:30 MUNSTERS—Comedy BW 5 PM BEVERLY HILLBILLIES 5:30 NEWS EVENING 6 PM NEWS 6:30 NBC NEWS—John Chancellor/David Brinkley 7 PM SANFORD AND SON—Comedy 7:30 CAROL BURNETT AND FRIENDS 8 PM BASEBALL Cincinnati Reds at New York Mets 10:30 OUR LAST FRONTIER: THE SEA—Documentary 11 PM NEWS 11:30 PRIMARY COVERAGE Special: Indiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Washington, D.C. Mid. TONIGHT Scheduled: Diahann Carroll, Joe Garagiola 1:30 TOMORROW—Snyder
19 WXIX (CINCINNATI) (Ind.) MORNING 6:15 PERSPECTIVE 7 AM ROMPER ROOM—Children 7:30 BUGS AND PORKY—Cartoons 8 AM POPEYE—Cartoons 8:30 FLINTSTONES—Cartoon 9 AM TOM AND JERRY—Cartoon 9:30 STAR BLAZERS—Cartoon 10 AM COURTSHIP OF EDDI’'S FATHER—Comedy-Drama 10:30 BEWITCHED—Comedy 11 AM ODD COUPLE—Comedy 11:30 MARY TYLER MOORE—Comedy AFTERNOON Noon MEDICAL CENTER—Drama 1 PM MOVIE—Drama “The Woman Hunter” (Made-for-TV; 1972) 3 PM POPEYE—Cartoons 3:30 FLINTSTONS—Cartoons 4 PM TOM AND JERRY—Cartoon 4:30 GILLIGAN’S ISLAND 5 PM SUPERMAN—Adventure 5:30 BRADY BUNCH—Comedy EVENING 6 PM CAROL BURNETT AND FRIENDS—Comedy 6:30 HAPPY DAYS AGAIN—Comedy 7 PM M*A*S*H 7:30 ALL IN THE FAMILY 8 PM GUNSMOKE—Western 9 PM MERV GRIFFIN Guests: Omar Sharif, Gregory Harrison, Virginia Graham, Rosemary Clooney 10:30 CROSS-WITS Soupy Sales, Gina Hecht, Brian Patrick Clarke, Judy Norton-Taylor 11 PM PRISONER: CELL BLOCK H 11:30 ALL IN THE FAMILY Mid. MEDICAL CENTER—Drama
27 WKYT (LEXINGTON) (CBS) MORNING 6 AM TOWN AND COUNTRY 7 AM TUESDAY MORNING 8 AM CAPTAIN KANGAROO 9 AM BUGS BUNNY AND FRIENDS 9:30 FLINTSTONES—Cartoon 10 AM JEFFERSONS 10:30 WHEW!—Game Robert Mandan, Joan Prather 10:55 CBS NEWS—Douglas Edwards 11 AM PRICE IS RIGHT AFTERNOON Noon PRISONER: CELL BLOCK H 12:30 SEARCH FOR TOMORROW 1 PM YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS—Serial 2 PM AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial 3 PM GUIDING LIGHT 4 PM RAZZMATAZZ—Children [Preempts regular programming.] 4:30 REAL McCOYS—Comedy BW 5 PM MAYBERRY, R.F.D.—Comedy 5:30 NEWS EVENING 6 PM NEWS 6:30 CBS NEWS—Walter Cronkite 7 PM PM MAGAZINE 7:30 M*A*S*H 8 PM WHITE SHADOW 9 PM MOVIE—Drama “Like Mom, Like Me” (Made-for-TV; 1978) 11 PM NEWS 11:30 PRIMARY COVERAGE Special: Indiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Washington, D.C. 11:45 TO BE ANNOUNCED
32 WLKY (LOUISVILLE) (ABC) MORNING 6:30 ROMPER ROOM—Children 7 AM GOOD MORNING AMERICA—David Hartman Guest: Bob Newhart, Mrs. Thurman Munson 9 AM PHIL DONAHUE Guest: Ayn Rand 10 AM GREEN ACRES—Comedy 10:30 EDGE OF NIGHT—Serial 11 AM LAVERNE & SHIRLEY 11:30 FAMILY FEUD—Game AFTERNOON Noon $20,000 PYRAMID—Game Didi Conn, Soupy Sales. Host: Dick Clark 12:30 RYAN’S HOPE—Serial 1 PM ALL MY CHILDREN 2 PM ONE LIFE TO LIVE 3 PM GENERAL HOSPITAL 4 PM STARSKY & HUTCH 5 PM HAPPY DAYS AGAIN—Comedy 5:30 NEWS EVENING 6 PM ABC NEWS—Frank Reynolds 6:30 TIC TAC DOUGH—Game 7 PM JOKER’S WILD—Game 7:30 SHA NA NA—Variety Guest: Lola Falana 8 PM HAPPY DAYS 8:30 LAVERNE & SHIRLEY 9 PM THREE’S COMPANY 9:30 TAXI 10 PM HART TO HART 11 PM NEWS 11:30 DAVE ALLEN AT LARGE Mid. ABC NEWS—Ted Koppel 12:20 SOAP
41 WDRB (LOUISVILLE) (Ind.) MORNING 7:45 NEWS 8 AM NEW ZOO REVUE 8:30 BUGS BUNNY—Cartoon 9 AM PTL CLUB—Religion 11 AM NEWS/INTROSPECT 11:30 HEALTH FIELD AFTERNOON Noon 700 CLUB—Religion 1:30 ROSS BAGLEY—Religion 2 PM PARTRIDGE FAMILY—Comedy 2:30 BULLWINKLE—Cartoon 3 PM PRESTO AND FRIENDS 4:30 GILLIGAN’S ISLAND 5 PM BEWITCHED—Comedy 5:30 I LOVE LUCY—Comedy BW EVENING 6 PM BIONIC WOMAN—Adventure 7 PM GOOD TIMES—Comedy 7:30 SANFORD AND SON—Comedy 8 PM BASEBALL Cincinnati Reds at New York Mets 10:30 TO BE ANNOUNCED 11 PM BENNY HILL—Comedy 11:30 MOVIE—Drama “Assignment to Kill” (1969)
62 WTVQ (LEXINGTON) (ABC) MORNING 5:30 700 CLUB—Religion 7 AM GOOD MORNING AMERICA—David Hartman Guest: Bob Newhart, Mrs. Thurman Munson 9 AM GENERAL HOSPITAL—Serial 10 AM TIC DAC DOUGH—Game 10:30 NEWLYWED GAME 11 AM LAVERNE & SHIRLEY 11:30 FAMILY FEUD—Game AFTERNOON Noon $20,000 PYRAMID—Game Didi Conn, Soupy Sales. Host: Dick Clark 12:30 RYAN’S HOPE—Serial 1 PM ALL MY CHILDREN 2 PM ONE LIFE TO LIVE 3 PM GET SMART—Comedy 3:30 TOM AND JERRY—Cartoon 4 PM SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN 5 PM NEWS EVENING 6 PM ABC NEWS—Frank Reynolds 6:30 HAPPY DAYS AGAIN—Comedy 7 PM ALL IN THE FAMILY 7:30 SULLIVANS—Drama 8 PM HAPPY DAYS 8:30 LAVERNE & SHIRLEY 9 PM THREE’S COMPANY 9:30 TAXI 10 PM HART TO HART 11 PM NEWS 11:30 ABC NEWS—Ted Koppel 11:50 SOAP
KET (Kentucky Educational Network) MORNING 8:15 A.M. WEATHER AFTERNOON 3:30 OVER EASY—Hugh Downs 4 PM SESAME STREET 5 PM MISTER ROGERS 5:30 ELECTRIC COMPANY—Children EVENING 6 PM ZOOM—Children 6:30 GED SERIES 8 PM MASTERPIECE THEATRE “My Son, My Son,” part 4 9 PM NOVA 10 PM MYSTERY! “Sergeant Cribb,” episode 1
TV
May 6, 2023
This week in TV Guide: May 3, 1980
Now, you and I both know that I’m not the biggest fan of 1980s television, and, looking at the TV Guide from the week I turned 20, I have to admit there’s something depressing about the thought that the golden years of my television viewing were already done. It’s not true, of course; between classes and term papers and the like, I probably watched as much television in 1980 as in any other year. And, when one looks at it from the perspective of 43 years later, it can’t be that I’m stuck pining for the good old days; the 1980 probably were the good old days for a significant portion of those of you reading right now.I suppose there are several factors involved in all this, and again, this is a case where your mileage may vary. Politically, the 1980s were a great triumph for me, but looking back, the “greed is good” mentality that permeated so much of American business should have been a tip-off as to what lay ahead. Drugs were everywhere, not that they weren’t in the 1960s and 70s, but in the 1980s you had Nancy Reagan and the War on Drugs, and “very special episodes,” and look how well that worked.
In television, the dominant programs in the year-end ratings were sitcoms; according to this week’s Doan Report, six of the top 10 shows for the 1979-80 season fell in that category: Three’s Company was #2, M*A*S*H #4, Alice #5, Flo #7, The Jeffersons #8, and One Day at a Time #10. (The Dukes of Hazzard, which someone described as a live-action comic book, comes in at #9.)* It would be unkind and unfair to say that these sitcoms were necessarily any worse than those of the 1950s, 60s and 70s, but I’m not sure how well they’ve aged. Again, given that sitcoms aren’t my favorite genre, I’m probably not the best authority on this, but they don’t seem to me as clever or witty as those of some other years.
*60 Minutes was the top-rated show of the season and Dallas #6, meaning CBS had eight of the top ten rated shows for the year. The two exceptions: Three's Company and That's Incredible!
Television also became obsessed with sex, or maybe I should say “sex” since it was really all quite mild compared to what goes nowadays, but the obsession with “jiggle TV” and tight t-shirts and what was or was not appropriate during the “family viewing hour” made TV Guide and other publications wonder if sex on TV had gone too far. This week’s As We See It takes up that very point, looking at the “sleazy soap opera” Prisoner: Cell Block H, an Australian import. The show is, as you might expect, about women in prison, and while it’s probably much, much, much less graphic than Orange is the New Black, it still includes “A murderer, a convicted prostitute who has an affair with the jail’s electrician, an ugly lesbian. a former cook who poisoned her employers and a kidnaper who swears she didn’t try to bury an infant alive.”
The problem isn’t necessarily the content, although Merritt Pannet observes that “It’s hard enough to believe that adult viewers really want a series that panders to the shabbiest, most sadistic tastes.” No, the point is that this “junk,” presumably intended for late-night viewing, is being shown as early as 5:00 p.m. in Philadelphia, where kids can watch it before dinner, “thus losing their appetites but gaining a whole new appreciation of life in the gutter.” (The station manager says he scheduled it as a lead-in to boost ratings for the 5:30 newscast.) In Minneapolis, it’s on at 6:30 p.m., right after the local news. In L.A., it’s on at 8:00 p.m.: Slime Time, if you will. Concludes Pannet, “Television should serve the widest vagaries of American tastes—the widest , not the lowest This ugly, tasteless series should be shipped back where it came from and buried—Down Under.”Remember, this kind of accusation is nothing new (although the sexual component of it is); just ask Newton Minow. The Beverly Hillbillies was long derided as leading the way in pandering to the lowest common denominator. And it’s not just sitcoms to blame; Richard Doan reports a controversy over CBS’s recent prestige movie Gauguin the Savage almost didn’t make it to the air because of a nude scene involving a woman posing for Gauguin. “She kept swatting flies off her breast,” a CBS official said, “and she kept jiggling, three times. We felt once was enough to make the point.” The producer, Bob Wood (former president of CBS) said that the real problem wasn’t the bare breast. “Breasts don’t mean anything to the networks,” he said. “It’s the nipples they’re worried about. The girl was slapping herself and her nipple was showing.” (I can’t believe I’m typing this.) Wood won, and the scene was shown as filmed. Says the CBS official, “I guess you’d have to say the scene was very National Geographic. Brown skin is OK to show, but white wouldn’t be.” Cringeworthy, but also probably true.
Perhaps I was destined to be a curmudgeon; maybe I already was one by the time I was 20. I don’t know, and I’d rather not revisit the scene to consider it; once was enough. But I also don't mean to paint with the broadest brush; there's a lot to like about 1980s television, and some of your favorite shows probably come from that decade. And let's not be in a bad mood about this week’s issue—we still have plenty to look forward to, so let's go find it!
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One advantage this week is that it's the start of the May sweeps, complete with all its "intense ratings competition." It begins on Saturday; the day of the week that nobody cares about nowadays has a packed lineup, starting with Ann-Margret in a rare 90-minute variety special (9:30 p.m. ET, ABC), with a guest star roster that features—well, you can read it for yourself there. Personally, I don't think Ann-Margret needs any help filling 90 minutes, but whatever. Besides the usual comedy skits, the special includes a pair of production numbers, and a trio of comedy-drama vignettes that remind us she has some acting chops as well. (You can see one of those
here
.) That special rounds out an ABC lineup that started with a 90-minute Love Boat (8:00 p.m.) with its own all-star cast: Helen Hayes, Maurice Evans, James MacArthur, Larry Wilcox, Catherine Bach, and Christopher Norris. What do the other two networks have to counter this? On NBC, BJ and the Bear (8:00 p.m.) is followed by part two of the blockbuster The Towering Inferno (9:00 p.m.), with "the greatest cast ever assembled!" Allowing for the usual hype, it is a pretty good cast: Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, Robert Wagner, William Holden, Fred Astaire, O.J. Simpson, Susan Blakely, Faye Dunaway, Richard Chamberlain, and Robert Vaughn. Is it, as the ad proclaims, "the most extraordinary suspense thriller of all time," or is it for, as Judith Crist pronounces, "fire buffs"? You be the judge. CBS offers The Tim Conway Comedy Hour at 8:00 p.m. (guest star Helen Reddy), followed by the fifth showing of John Wayne's Rio Lobo. Something for everyone, don't you think?
Sunday's movie special is a repeat showing of Oh, God! (9:00 p.m., NBC), with George Burns as the Almighty, and John Denver as his messenger. Judith Crist ranks it "top of the week's theatrical repeats," providing "irreestible entertainment for all ages." Opposite that, John Ritter hosts his own comedy special on ABC (10:00 p.m.), with his Three's Company co-stars Joyce DeWitt and Suzanne Somers, plus David Doyle, Howard Hesseman, and Vincent Price.
Monday continues our bevy of sweeps specials, with one of those "very special" episodes we all know and love. This one is on Little House on the Prairie (8:00 p.m., NBC), as Laura gets engaged to Almanzo Wilder. That's followed by the TV premiere of the charming Breaking Away (9:00 p.m., NBC), winner of an Oscar for Original Screenplay just two weeks prior. Crist notes that it's likely a winner for some kind of record in "theater-to-television transitions," and praises it as the "feel-terrific" movie of the year. Crist also likes the ABC TV-movie Off the Minnesota Strip (9:00 p.m.), a "probing, unsparing story" of a young girl (Mare Winningham), a runaway from Minnesota, who falls into the clutches of a pimp, and the troubles she encounters in trying to return to her former life. Crist calls it "an uncomprising story, honest and compassionate, devoid of sentimentality—and unforgettable." (Fortunately, we left Minnesota a less dramatic way.) Even PBS gets into the sweeps act, as Life From Lincoln Center pays tribute to John Huston. Film clips of Huston's movies are combined with scenes of his occasional acting appearances, inclulding his Oscar-nominated role in The Cardinal, and he's feted by Richard Burton, Lauren Bacall, Jack Nicholson, and Jose Ferrer.
Tuesday, NBC's failed attempt to revive the variety series, The Big Show (9:00 p.m.), boasts it's biggest show of all, with a two-hour extravaganza featuring Gene Kelly and Nancy Walker as hosts, and guests Debby Boone. Sherman Hemsley, Mel Tillis. Georgia Engel, opera tenor Placido Domingo, ice dancers Kriztina Regoczy and Andras Sallay, juggler Picasso, and comics Sean Morey. Monteith and Rand, and the Two Ronnies. How do you think this matches up with our Sullivan/Palace shows? Meanwhile, ABC offers its Murderers' Row lineup of Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Three's Company, Taxi, and Hart to Hart. Not bad, eh?Wednesday, CBS devotes its entire prime-time to The Memory of Eva Ryker (8:00 p.m.), a three-hour made-for-TV movie produced by Irwin Allen and starring Natalie Wood, with Robert Foxworth, Roddy McDowall, Bradford Dillman, Jean Pierre Aumont, and Ralph Bellamy. Will Wood recall her repressed memories of what happened all those years ago when her mother died onboard a luxury liner sunk by the Nazis? Crist describes it as a "preposterous meodrama" that provides "mindless but engrossing entertainment" and advises us "not to reason—just to wallow." Can't do better than that, I guess.
Thursday, CBS has its own 90-minute special, Johnny Cash: the First 25 Years (9:30 p.m., CBS), a star-studded celebration of the country star's career. He's joined by June Carter Cash, Jack Clement, Larry Gatlin, Tom T. Hall. Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Carl Perkins, and the Statler Brothers. I don't know; 90 minutes somehow just doesn't seem like enough time for a show like this; whether or not you like country music (and I don't, particularly), this special has a whole sweeps month's worth of legends. Opposite Johnny, it's part 1 of "the shocking new version of the movie classic," King Kong (8:00 p.m., NBC), with Jessica Lang as the object of Kong's affection. Crist: it "updates and vulgarizes it" for those who've seen the original, and provides "dumb entertainment" for those who aren't. One thing it has over the original is the World Trade Center, and those same towers also feature in the opening of Barney Miller (9:00 p.m., ABC), and this seriocomic episode focuses on Barney's failure, once again, to get a promotion to Deputy Inspector. Regardless of what you think of the movie, or Barney Miller, those views of the Twin Towers still get to you, even all these years later.
The week wraps up with one of those Rona Barrett specials—remember her? She was one of Hollywood's best-known gossip columnists prior to a very ill-fated team-up with Tom Snyder when NBC expanded Tomorrow to 90 minutes; she's still around, although she retired from the media in 1991. Anyway, she used to host the kinds of shows that Barbara Walters went on to make her perview, and tonight's special, "That's My Mom!" (Friday, 8:00 p.m., ABC) presents Bo Derek, Larry Hagman, Kristy McNichol, Kenny Rogers, and their mothers. Probably not all at the same time. ABC follows it up with one of those made-for-TV movies that must make you wince: The Love Tapes (9:00 p.m.), "a hilarious mix 'n match when six singles go hunting for mates using the latest thing in dating services...their videotaped auditions as lovers!" It stars—no, I'm not even going to go into that; if you're interested, you can look it up. NBC finishes up King Kong, and follows it with part two of another two-parter, The Curse of King Tut's Tomb (10:00 p.m.), with Robin Ellis, Raymond Burr, Eva Marie Saint, and—Tom Baker? Yes, it's none other than the Fourth Doctor, and that alone might have made it the show to watch tonight.
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On weeks when we can, we'll match up two of the biggest rock shows of the era, NBC's The Midnight Special and the syndicated Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, and see who's better, who's best.Kirshner: Guest performers include Kool & the Gang. Lou Rawls, the Captain & Tennille and Rose Royce. Music: "Too Hot." "Ladies Night."
Special: Gladys Knight & the Pips celebrate their 27th anniversary with Michael Jackson. Billy Preston and Syreeta. Also: clips of Seals & Crofts and the Pretenders; the top-10 countdown; and a comedy segment.
I haven't forgotten about this feature! You'd expect music shows to mirror the state of the culture, and this week these shows do a perfect job. But whose music is more timeless? Well, 27 years is a long time to be around, and Gladys Knight and the Pips didn't stop there. Michael Jackson is still hot, and Seals & Crofts and the Pretenders are too much for the Kirshner crew to overcome. This week Special Pips the competition.
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There's no question that television has changed since the 1980s, and one of the most visible signs of that change is the number of people who've cut the cord, or quit watching television altogether. In this era of video-on-demand, one of the only types of programming that still keeps people hooked on cable and can attract a live audience is sports. Ah, but such was not always the case. Witness basketball and hockey.
CBS has the rights to the NBA finals, starting Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles as the Lakers take on the Philadelphia 76ers. That second game, though—well, let's just say that if you live on the East Coast, I hope you don't have to get an early start the next day, because game two of the series begins at 11:30 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday. I don't even think the game's being shown live; CBS has had a habit this last few years of showing playoff games on a tape-delay basis because their primetime ratings were so low, so my suspicion is that the game actually started around 10:00 p.m., with the CBS affiliate in Philadelphia allowed to carry it live. The same thing probably would have happened for game three, except the network convinced the NBA to schedule games three and four on Saturday and Sunday. Nowadays, teams rarely play back-to-back games even during the regular season, let alone the finals.
Hockey isn't in much better shape; right now, the NHL has no national television contract in the United States, so Stanley Cup playoff games are being shown on a syndicated basis. The NHL hasn't arrived at the final round yet, so there's only one game being televised each week, and that game can be seen, tape-delayed, on WXIX, Channel 19 in Cincinnati, at 11:00 p.m. Incidentally, game six of the Stanley Cup Final, between the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Islanders, does get a network airing, Saturday afternoon May 24, on CBS. That winds up being the final game, with the Islanders winning four games to two. If the Flyers had won? Game seven would have been played sometime during the week, and who knows if that would have been carried by any network?
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When I'm looking through issues from this era, I'll occasionally see an independent station with a schedule of black-and-white series—The Untouchables, The Outer Limits, The Twilight Zone, etc.—and I'll think to myself, "That's a great retro lineup!" But it's important to remember that most of these shows only aired twenty or so years earlier; think Friends or Home Improvement or N.Y.P.D. Blue by comparison. We don't think of those as coming from another time and likely people in the 1980s didn't look at those shows the same way, either. (The only distinguishing characteristic they had was that they were shown in black-and-white, and we know there are some people who simply won't watch a B&W show or movie, no matter what. Those people are known as "stupid," but we're not here to talk about them right now.)
I bring this up because this week Barbara and Joe Saltzman have an article about why some of television's top shows thrive in syndication, while others don't, and you might be surprised to find out which classics don't make the cut. For example, none of you will be caught off guard to find that I Love Lucy is the most successful syndcated series in the history of television. The Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island (a surprise, considering there are only 98 episodes), The Flintstones, Bewitched, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Twilight Zone, and Get Smart also fall into the successful category.
But Leave It to Beaver? That started out hot, but by 1980 it's losing its popularity. The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, and Green Acres failed to meet expectations, as did The Fugitive and The Doris Day Show. "A half hour is easy to watch and not as big a time commitment," says Steven Orr of 20th Century-Fox; the exceptions have been shows with mass appeal like Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, and Bonanza, or cult faves such as The Avengers, The Prisoner (especially on public broadcasting channels), Alfred Hitchcock, and Mission: Impossible. Not so for Marcus Welby, M.D.
Among recent additions to the syndication market, All in the Family, M*A*S*H, Happy Days, Welcome Back, Kotter, Sanford and Sone, and Laverne & Shirley have been tops, with the latter breaking records for syndication fees—$61,000 per episode, which entitles the bearer to seven runs within five years. (Which raises the question: what are fees like today? When you look at half-hour sitcoms that run two or even four episodes per day, a station can run through 100 episodes in as little as five weeks, which means at least seven runs per year. Can we say oversaturated?)
I'm not sure this question is even pertinent today; anyone who streams content knows there are entire stations dedicated to showing nothing but episodes of your favorite show:
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Finally, what would sweeps week be without the Battle of the Network Stars?Battle of the Network Stars (Sunday, 8:00 p.m., ABC) may well have been the first program that fell into the category of "Trashsports," which Merriam-Webster defines as "an exhibition of sports events which is held solely for the purpose of being televised and in which the participants are celebrities." The concept was simple: stars from each of the three networks competing in various sporting events. Obviously, many of the celebrities in these shows had at least some athleticism, and some of them were quite good. It didn't hurt, however, if you looked great in bathing suits and tight t-shirts. (Rest assured that with celebrities like Farrah Fawcett, Victoria Principal, and Lynda Carter, the jiggle quotient was high no matter how athletic they were; there were a few Brutis Beefcakes on the male side as well.)
The original Battle of the Network Stars ran twice a year from 1976 to 1988 on ABC, and almost always aired, as is the case here, during sweeps. Someone once described it as reality television before reality television existed; it was a rare chance to see celebrities off-script and away from the set, and it made them somehow seem more human and unguarded. Having Howard Cosell as the host gave it some sports credibility, although many hard-core sports fans found the whole exercise offensive—hence, the moniker "Trashsports." I fall into that category; I've never seen anything more than a handful of clips, and even as a television historian I'm not embarrassed by that admission. True, it first started while I was still stuck in the World's Worst Town™, but I refuse to use that as an excuse. It's just the kind of show that it would never occur to me to watch. I never watched Superstars either; for me back then, sports was serious business. (If I hadn't had early classes the next day, I would have been up watching those midnight NBA games.)
There was a 2017 revival of the concept as a weekly show (forgetting the maxim that less is more), but it didn't last very long. In a way, Battle of the Network Stars, like so much of the 1980s, is an idea that's past its time. With programs like Dancing With the Stars, we're already accustomed to the celebrity as fish-out-of-water, while the opioid-like effects of reality television have made us cynical about anything represented as unscripted and candid. Although it would have hardly seemed that way at the time, I suppose there was something more innocent about the 1980s; forty years later, we're not apt to see that innocence again. TV
May 5, 2023
Around the dial
As usual, something sinister seems to be just around the corner in Jack's Hitchcock Project at bare-bones e-zine. This time it's "
Victim Four
," adapted by Talmage Powell from his own short story, with John Lupton, Peggy Ann Garner, and Paul Comi. Tip: stay away from anyone with the nickname "The Butcher."If you've been following along here, or if you read Comfort TV on a regular basis, you know about David's trip through 1970s TV, and his quest to watch at least one episode from every prime time series. He's now up to 1972 , and let's see how he did with Sunday and Monday nights.
For some reason, I frequently have trouble with the titles The Protectors and The Persuaders!, two British shows from the 1970s, remembering which title goes with which show, even though I have The Persuaders! Maybe this will help: John's review of" Shadbolt " from The Protectors at Cult TV Blog.
Cult TV Lounge offers us a look at three episodes of the 1970s British series Thriller (not to be confused with the Boris Karloff-hosted show of the same name). The episodes, all from 1973, are The Colour of Blood, Murder in Mind, and A Place to Die. Don't say you weren't warned.
The View from the Junkyard concludes this trio of pieces on British TV with the fourth season Avengers episode " The Hour That Never Was ," a genuinely disorienting episode that, for once, puts Steed and Mrs. Peel on the back foot. A terrific episode.
I'm not even going to ask if you remember " Nightmare at 20,000 Feet ," one of the most famous and most loved episodes of The Twilight Zone. But did you ever wonder about the origin of the word "gremlin"? Find out more from Paul at Shadow & Substance.
In the mood for a clipl from an old program? Head on over to Silver Scenes, where the Metzingers have one from a 1960 episode of The Bell Telephone Hour ; it's Howard Keel and Sally Ann Howes, singing "Tonight" from the Broadway version of West Side Story. Very nice!
We're getting closer to the publication of Peace, Jodie's biography of Dave Garroway , and at Garroway at Large she shares a picture of the printed proof of the hardcover edition. I'm really looking forward to adding this to the library. (Bonus points for a mention of the great Dan Gurney!)
At Drunk TV, Paul returns to the Old West and Gunsmoke , and a look at the second season (from 1956-57) of the legendary Western. Remember, at this point the show was only 30 minutes long, Festus hadn't come on the scene, and Chester is still gimping around. An excellent show, and excellent review.
Television's New Frontier: The 1960s visits one of the great cat-TV shows of all time, the 1962 episodes of Top Cat. I don't share the somewhat negative opinion of the author regarding the quality of the show; perhaps it isn't original, but it works perfectly as a cartoon, which is what it is.
After a few lean weeks (in terms of quantity, not quality), it's nice to have a full house today, isn't it? TV
May 3, 2023
Jerry Springer, R.I.P.
About Jerry Springer, three things:1. When confronted with the story that he had once paid for a prostitute with a check, he supposedly replied, "Hey, the check was good!" or words to that effect. Now, I don't want to appear as if I'm condoning prostitution, but that was a masterful way to handle the situation. People can't embarrass you if you refuse to be embarrassed. It was, in its own way, very self-effacing, and it's hard not to like someone, even if just a little, who can do that.
2. Many years ago I wrote an absurdist political satire featuring as a secondary story a former professional wrestler running for governor of his state. (You might know who I'm talking about.) Near the end of the campaign, the candidates participate in a debate, held on a stage arranged to look like a wrestling ring; Mike Tyson was the timekeeper, and it seemed perfectly natural under the circumstances to have Jerry Springer as the moderator. I never published it because it became more and more difficult to tell the difference between satire and reality, but I might return to it someday.
3. As part of my research for the book, I subjected myself to watching an entire week of the Springer show in order to get his verbal and physical mannerisms correct. It was a very strange experience; I knew what I was letting myself in for, of course, but the five episodes I watched were, by turns, disgusting, hilarious, and oddly touching. It wasn't something I'd care to repeat, but it also wasn't the worst television experience I've had. I'm not sure whether or not that's something to be proud of. As disgusting as his show could be, I nonetheless found it impossible not to like him; hating him was about the farthest thing from my mind.
It occurrs to me that the worst nightmare for American elites was probably the idea of a show produced by Chuck Barris and starring Jerry Springer; with both of them gone, they can rest easy about that, although I'm sure they'll find something else to worry about. When Springer died last week at the age of 79, my first thought (after thinking about Barris) was that it truly was the end of an era. That's an overused phrase, but in this case there was no other way to put it. The British newspaper The Guardian said that Springer "changed US television for better and worse," and I think that's a fair assessment. There had been shows like Springer's before, and his success spawned copycats—many, many copycats—but they all lacked one thing: Jerry Springer himself.
In parading his cast of oddballs and misfits into homes on a daily basis for nearly 30 years, many would argue that Springer displayed a callous disregard for his guests—exploiting them, ridiculing them, holding them up as an example of the worst that American culture had to offer. In so doing, they argue, Springer not only coarsened pop culture, he magnified and then perpetuated such coarsening, not just by encouraging copycat shows, but by deluding people to engage in more and more extreme behavior in order to achieve their fifteen minutes of fame. His show became a bizarre combination of "You Asked For It" and "Can You Top This?"
Most, if not all, of this is probably true; in looking back on Springer's career and his impact on pop culture, I thought of a parallel to another man who was criticized and despised by the ruling class, a man accused of pandering to the sensational and bringing journalism down to the lowest common denominator for the sake of ratings: Walter Winchell.
Winchell, who fought his way up from struggling vaudevillian to the nation's most widely read columnist and most powerful broadcaster, had a withering contempt for the elitists, the wealthy and upper class, the denizens of what was once called Café Society. In making them the focal point of his gossip column and radio program, he sought to cut them down to size, to strike a blow for the little guy, a group in which he counted himself. By attacking their foibles, follies, and excesses, he turned their lives into a form of entertainment for the masses, and provided those same masses with a glimpse into the hitherto guarded lives of the rich and famous.
I think in some ways Springer saw himself in the same light. "It’s basically elitist," Springer said of the criticism he faced. "You have all these celebrities [coming on other shows to] … talk about who they slept with, what drugs they’ve been on, what misbehavior they had, and we can’t buy enough tickets to their shows. We can’t buy enough of their albums. We go to see their movies. We buy their books. We think they’re god-like." He took particular umbrage at the idea that he was exploiting his guests; he was, instead, giving them the same chance for publicity that others had because of their wealth and celebrity.
Springer, like Winchell, was condemned by critics and self-appointed guardians of taste. Like Winchell, Springer found his greatests champions among the people, especially the high school students who took to his brand of entertainment with relish; it was as if America's favorite baby-sitter had morphed from Sesame Street to a TV studio in Chicago. Both Winchell and Springer were political animals: Winchell as a champion of FDR and a dedicated anti-communist; Springer as a politician himself, a former city councilman and mayor in Cincinnati. Both thought of themselves as populists, and both were accused of bringing polite society into the gutter. They weren't necessarily misunderstood, but both were more complex individuals than originally thought. And both, though it was hard for many to believe, had a real concern for "the people"—Winchell, who received letters from thousands of listeners each week looking for help or complaining about various injustices, would pass along those that made the biggest impression on him to President or Mrs. Roosevelt; Springer, whose show was at one time even more popular than Oprah Winfrey, would give a "Final Thought" at the end of each show, a moral-of-the-story that many thought hypocritical, and would end by saying, "Take care of yourself, and each other."
Comparisons can only go so far, of course, but there's no doubt that journalism changed forever because of Walter Winchell, and television changed forever because of Jerry Springer. Whether these changes could have been effected in a less sensational way is a topic for another day, and it's difficult to make the case that either one of them left their respective media in better shape than they found it. TV Guide once called the Springer show the worst in television history. This, we should remember, is the same TV Guide that was once an influential, even intellectual, review of television before it became just another fan magazine with sensational headlines. We don't live in the land of what-if, though, but what-is.
One thing that few can argue is that for many, The Jerry Springer Show was hugely entertaining, must-see television. Whether we see a show like it again probably depends on whether we see another Jerry Springer again. If that's the case, then I'd say it's pretty unlikely, because Jerry Springer broke the mold. The rest are just cheap imitations, and to borrow one of Burnham's Laws , just as good, isn't. TV
May 1, 2023
What's on TV? Wednesday, May 5, 1965
I'm sure I've commented on this in the past, but then after so many years at this, you kind of run out of new things to say. I can't help but notice, though, how different daytime programming is today as opposed to the classic era we look at here. We know that soap operas and game shows have virtually disappeared (there remain three of the former and two of the latter), and that news/entertainment programs have expanded (ABC's Good Morning America now has a one-hour afternoon segment, while NBC's entire daytime schedule consists of four hours of Today and one hour of NBC News); meantime, the rest of the time has been returned to affiliates. But what do they show? Are there any local stations, for instance, running movies in the morning or afternoon? Most of what I see are local "news" shows, reality shows, talk shows, infomercials, and sitcom reruns. Children's shows are long since gone, as are local variety programs, educational programs, non-sitcom reruns, exercise shows, or, really, anything of substance. If you read through the listings from this week's Northern California edition, you'll see what I mean. Not that I'm saying things were better then—or am I?-2- KTVU (SAN FRANCISCO-OAKLAND) (IND.) Morning 9:50 RELIGION TODAY—Protestant 10:00 NEWS—Walt Harris 10:30 JACK LA LANNE—Exercise 11:00 ROMPER ROOM—Children Afternoon 12:00 JACK BENNY—Comedy 12:30 TV HOUR OF STARS—Drama 1:30 I WANT TO KNOW—Venter 2:00 MOVIE—Drama “The Tanks Are Coming” (1951) 3:25 NEWS 3:30 CAPTAIN SATELLITE—Children 4:00 MOVIE—Drama “Flying Fortress” (English; 1942) 4:30 MICKEY MOUSE CLUB 5:00 LLOYD THAXTON—Music Guests: Sonny and Cher Evening 6:00 MAGILLA GORILLA—Cartoons 6:30 HUCKLEBERRY HOUND 7:00 LITTLEST HOBO—Adventure 7:30 SURVIVAL!—Documentary 8:00 EAST SIDE/WEST SIDE—Drama 9:00 THRILLER—Mystery 10:00 NEWS—Helmso, Jacobs, Mann 10:30 BEST OF GROUCHO—Quiz 11:00 MOVIE—Adventure COLOR “Valley of the Kings” (1945)
-3- KCRA (SACRAMENTO) (NBC) Morning 5:55 FARM NEWS 6:00 RHYME AND REASON 7:00 TODAY Guest: Mrs. William Hasebrook, president of the General Federation of Womens’ Clubs 9:00 TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES 9:30 WHAT’S THIS SONG? COLOR Panelists: Rose Marie, Ryan O’Neal 9:55 NEWS 10:00 CONCENTRATION 10:30 JEOPARDY COLOR 11:00 CALL MY BLUFF—Game COLOR Celebrities: Lauren Bacall, Les Crane 11:30 I’LL BET—Game COLOR Jim and Henny Backus vs. Joanna Barnes and Larry Dobkin 11:55 NEWS Afternoon 12:00 NEWS 12:25 NEWS 12:30 LEAVE IT TO BEAVER—Comedy 1:00 DOCTORS—Serial 1:30 ANOTHER WORLD—Serial 2:00 YOU DON’T SAY!—Game COLOR Guests: Diane McBain, Sid Melton 2:30 MOVIE—Drama “Tomorrow Is Another Day” (1951) 4:00 MOVIE—Drama “Flying Fortress” (English; 1942) 5:30 NEWS, WEATHER Evening 6:00 NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley 6:30 NEWS 7:00 DEATH VALLEY DAYS—Drama COLOR 7:30 VIRGINIAN—Western COLOR 9:00 MOVIE—Comedy Wednesday Night at the Movies: “The Sad Sack” (1957) 11:00 NEWS 11:30 JOHNNY CARSON COLOR 1:00 NEWS
-4- KRON (SAN FRANCISCO-OAKLAND) (NBC) Morning 5:55 FARM NEWS 6:00 SEMNAR IV—Literature Act 3 of “Hamlet” 6:30 OUR WORLD—Education 7:00 TODAY Guest: Mrs. William Hasebrook, president of the General Federation of Womens’ Clubs 9:00 TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES 9:30 WHAT’S THIS SONG? COLOR Panelists: Rose Marie, Ryan O’Neal 9:55 NEWS 10:00 CONCENTRATION 10:30 JEOPARDY COLOR 11:00 CALL MY BLUFF—Game COLOR Celebrities: Lauren Bacall, Les Crane 11:30 I’LL BET—Game COLOR Jim and Henny Backus vs. Joanna Barnes and Larry Dobkin 11:55 NEWS Afternoon 12:00 LET’S MAKE A DEAL—Game COLOR 12:25 NEWS 12:30 MOMENT OF TRUTH—Serial 1:00 DOCTORS—Serial 1:30 ANOTHER WORLD—Serial 2:00 YOU DON’T SAY!—Game COLOR Guests: Diane McBain, Sid Melton 2:30 MATCH GAME COLOR Celebrities: Roger Smith, Rita Moreno. Host: Gene Rayburn 2:55 NEWS—Nancy Dickerson 3:00 LARAMIE—Western 4:00 WHIRLYBIRDS—Adventure 4:30 MAYOR ART—Children 5:30 BACHELOR FATHER—Comedy Evening 6:00 NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley 6:30 NEWS 6:55 SPORTS 7:00 MEN IN CRISIS—Documentary 7:30 VIRGINIAN—Western COLOR 9:00 MOVIE—Comedy Wednesday Night at the Movies: “The Sad Sack” (1957) 11:00 NEWS 11:30 JOHNNY CARSON COLOR 1:00 NEWS
-5- KPIX (SAN FRANCISCO-OAKLAND) (CBS) Morning 5:55 SUNRISE SEMESTER Russian Literature in translation: “The Poets Ehrenburg and Yevtushenko” 6:25 SOCIOLOGY—Lessons 6:55 KPIX EDITORIAL 7:00 JACK’S PLACE—Children 8:00 CAPTAIN KANGAROO 9:00 NEWS—Mike Wallace 9:30 I LOVE LUCY—Comedy 10:00 ANDY GRIFFITH 10:30 McCOYS—Comedy 11:00 LOVE OF LIFE 11:25 NEWS 11:30 SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial 11:45 GUIDING LIGHT—Serial Afternoon 12:00 NEWS 12:30 AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial 1:00 PASSWORD—Game Contestants: Juliet Prowse, George Hamilton 1:30 HOUSE PARTY Guest: Arlene Dahl 2:00 TO TELL THE TRUTH Panelists: Sally Ann Howes, Dick Patterson, Jan Murray, Joan Fontaine. Host: Bud Collyer 2:25 NEWS 2:30 EDGE OF NIGHT 3:00 SECRET STORM 3:30 MIKE DOUGLAS—Variety Guests include Dr. Arthur Trace 4:30 MOVIE—Adventure “The Crusades” (1935) part 1 5:55 KPIX EDITORIAL Evening 6:00 NEWS 6:30 NEWS—Walter Cronkite 7:00 ONE STEP BEYOND—Drama 7:30 MISTER ED—Comedy 8:00 MY LIVING DOLL 8:30 BEVERLY HILLBILLIES 9:00 DICK VAN DYKE 9:30 OUR PRIVATE WORLD DEBUT 10:00 DANNY KAYE—Variety Guests: Peter Falk, Pete Fountain and his combo, Michele Lee 11:00 NEWS 11:20 MOVIE—Musical “Incendiary Blonde” (1945) 1:25 MOVIE—Drama “Sky Bride” (1932)
-6- KVIE (SACRAMENTO) (EDUC.) Morning 9:10 CLASSROOM—Education Science, speech, music, language arts, Spanish Afternoon 1:10 CLASSROOM—Education Spanish, science 4:15 MATH FOR TEACHERS 5:00 FRENCH CHEF 5:30 BETTY B—Songs 5:45 FRIENDLY GIANT—Children Evening 6:00 WHAT’S NEW—Children 6:30 STOCK MARKET REPORT 6:35 MUSICAL PORTRAITS 7:00 FILM FEATURE 7:30 STATE OF THE CAPITOL 8:00 WHERE IS JIM CROW? 8:30 AT ISSUE—Discussion SPECIAL 9:30 WORLD PRESS—Panel 10:30 INTERVIEW—Burns, Unruh
-7- KGO (SAN FRANCISCO-OAKLAND) (ABC) Morning 5:30 MY LITTLE MARGIE—Comedy Time approximate 6:00 CHANNEL FOR LEARNING 6:30 DIXIE SINGIN’—Music 7:00 MARSHAL ‘J’—Children 8:00 ON THE SCENE—Bill Gordon 8:30 GYPSY ROSE LEE—Panel Guests: Lucille Bliss, Imogene Coca 9:00 GIRL TALK—Panel Panelists: Jan Sterling, Teri Thornton, Sybil Leek 9:30 MOVIE—Musical “If I Had My Way” (1946) 11:00 NEWS—Bob Dunn 11:30 PRICE IS RIGHT Panelist: Vivian Vance Afternoon 12:00 DONNA REED—Comedy 12:30 FATHER KNOWS BEST 1:00 REBUS—Game 1:30 BAT MASTERSON—Western 2:00 FLAME IN THE WIND 2:30 DAY IN COURT 2:55 NEWS—Marlene Sanders 3:00 GENERAL HOSPITAL 3:30 YOUNG MARRIEDS 4:00 TRAILMASTER 5:00 MOVIE—Comedy “Keep ‘em Flying” (1941) Evening 6:30 LEAVE IT TO BEAVER—Comedy 6:55 SPORTS 7:00 NEWS 7:15 NEWS—Bob Young 7:30 OZZIE AND HARRIET 8:00 PATTY DUKE—Comedy 8:30 SHINDIG—Music Guests: the Chambers Brothers, Glenn Campbell, Jimmy Boyd, Willy Nelson, Sonny and Cher, Linda Gall, Ray Peterson, the Blossoms, the Wellingtons. Host: Jimmy O’Neill 9:30 BURKE’S LAW—Mystery 10:30 ABC SCOPE 11:00 NEWS 11:15 NIGHTLIFE—Variety Guest host: William B. Williams 1:00 MOVIE—Triple Feature 1. “The Scarface Mob” (1962) 2. COLOR “The Golden Hawk” (1952) 3. Spy in the Sky” (1958)
7 KRCR (REDDING) (ABC, NBC) Morning 8:00 TODAY Guest: Mrs. William Hasebrook, president of the General Federation of Womens’ Clubs Picked up in progress 9:00 TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES 9:30 WHAT’S THIS SONG? COLOR Panelists: Rose Marie, Ryan O’Neal 9:55 NEWS 10:00 CONCENTRATION 10:30 JEOPARDY COLOR 11:00 CALL MY BLUFF—Game COLOR Celebrities: Lauren Bacall, Les Crane 11:30 PRICE IS RIGHT Panelist: Vivian Vance 11:55 NEWS Afternoon 12:00 DONNA REED—Comedy 12:30 FATHER KNOWS BEST 1:00 REBUS—Game 1:30 ANOTHER WORLD—Serial 2:00 FLAME IN THE WIND 2:30 DAY IN COURT 2:55 NEWS—Marlene Sanders 3:00 GENERAL HOSPITAL 3:30 YOUNG MARRIEDS 4:00 TRAILMASTER 5:00 PETER POTAMUS—Cartoons 5:30 JONNY QUEST—Cartoon Evening 6:00 NEWS 6:30 NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley 7:00 DONNA REED—Comedy 7:30 VIRGINIAN—Western COLOR 9:00 MOVIE—Drama “The Wrong Man” (1956) 11:00 NEWS 11:15 JOHNNY CARSON COLOR
-8- KSBW (SALINAS) (CBS, NBC) Morning 7:00 TODAY Guest: Mrs. William Hasebrook, president of the General Federation of Womens’ Clubs 9:00 TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES 9:30 WHAT’S THIS SONG? COLOR Panelists: Rose Marie, Ryan O’Neal 9:55 NEWS 10:00 CONCENTRATION 10:30 JEOPARDY COLOR 11:00 LOVE OF LIFE 11:25 NEWS 11:30 I’LL BET—Game COLOR Jim and Henny Backus vs. Joanna Barnes and Larry Dobkin 11:55 NEWS Afternoon 12:00 LET’S MAKE A DEAL—Game COLOR 12:25 NEWS 12:30 AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial 1:00 PASSWORD—Game Contestants: Juliet Prowse, George Hamilton 1:30 HOUSE PARTY Guest: Arlene Dahl 2:00 TO TELL THE TRUTH Panelists: Sally Ann Howes, Dick Patterson, Jan Murray, Joan Fontaine. Host: Bud Collyer 2:25 NEWS 2:30 EDGE OF NIGHT 3:00 SECRET STORM 3:30 MOVIE—Mystery “Postmark for Danger” (English; 1956) 5:30 SUPERMAN—Adventure Evening 6:00 NEWS 6:30 NEWS—Walter Cronkite 7:00 TALL MAN—Western 7:30 VIRGINIAN—Western COLOR 9:00 MOVIE—Comedy Wednesday Night at the Movies: “The Sad Sack” (1957) 11:00 NEWS 11:15 JOHNNY CARSON COLOR
-9- KQED (SAN FRANCISCO-OAKLAND) (EDUC.) Morning 9:10 CLASSROOM—Education Chemistry, speech, social studies, music, language arts, Spanish Afternoon 1:30 CLASSROOM—Education Music, science, French 3:30 MATH FOR TEACHERS 4:30 SPECTRUM—Science 5:00 WHAT’S NEW—Children 5:30 TV KINDERGARTEN Evening 6:00 WHAT’S NEW—Children 6:30 PORTRAIT IN MUSIC 7:00 FILM FEATURE 7:30 STATE OF THE CAPITOL 8:00 WHERE IS JIM CROW? 8:30 BOOK BEAT—Interview Guest: Emily Kimbrough 9:00 REPERTOIRE WORKSHOP 9:30 WORLD PRESS—Panel 10:30 AT ISSUE—Discussion SPECIAL
10 KXTV (SACRAMENTO) (CBS) Morning 6:20 FOCUS ON FARMING 6:30 SUNRISE SEMESTER Russian Literature in translation: “The Poets Ehrenburg and Yevtushenko” 7:00 DIVER DAN—Cartoons 8:00 CAPTAIN KANGAROO 9:00 NEWS—Mike Wallace 9:30 I LOVE LUCY—Comedy 10:00 ANDY GRIFFITH 10:30 McCOYS—Comedy 11:00 LOVE OF LIFE 11:25 NEWS 11:30 SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial 11:45 GUIDING LIGHT—Serial Afternoon 12:00 NEWS 12:30 AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial 1:00 PASSWORD—Game Contestants: Juliet Prowse, George Hamilton 1:30 HOUSE PARTY Guest: Arlene Dahl 2:00 TO TELL THE TRUTH Panelists: Sally Ann Howes, Dick Patterson, Jan Murray, Joan Fontaine. Host: Bud Collyer 2:25 NEWS 2:30 EDGE OF NIGHT 3:00 SECRET STORM 3:30 DOBIE GILLIS—Comedy 4:00 MIKE DOUGLAS—Variety Guests include Dr. Arthur Trace 5:30 LLOYD THAXTON—Music Guests: The Don Randi Trio Evening 6:30 NEWS—Walter Cronkite 7:00 NEWS 7:30 MISTER ED—Comedy 8:00 MY LIVING DOLL 8:30 BEVERLY HILLBILLIES 9:00 DICK VAN DYKE 9:30 BATTLE LINE—Documentary 10:00 DANNY KAYE—Variety Guests: Peter Falk, Pete Fountain and his combo, Michele Lee 11:00 NEWS 11:15 MOVIE—Drama “Five Graves to Cairo” (1943) 1:10 CHECKMATE—Mystery
11 KNTV (SAN JOSE) (ABC) Morning 8:00 CONTINENTAL CLASSROOM American Government: “National Goals and Purposes” 8:30 GOSPEL SINGING—Music 9:00 HOCUS POCUS—Children 9:30 BUCKAROO 500—Buck Weaver 9:45 HOCUS POCUS—Children 10:00 GIRL TALK—Panel Guests: Mrs. Rosamund V.P. Kaufman, Mrs. Bartley Crum 10:30 ADVENTURES IN PARADISE 11:30 PRICE IS RIGHT Panelist: Vivian Vance Afternoon 12:00 DONNA REED—Comedy 12:30 FATHER KNOWS BEST 1:00 BINGO—Game 1:30 AFTERNOON—Jess and Lu 2:00 FLAME IN THE WIND 2:30 DAY IN COURT 2:55 NEWS—Marlene Sanders 3:00 GENERAL HOSPITAL 3:30 YOUNG MARRIEDS 4:00 TRAILMASTER 5:00 LEAVE IT TO BEAVER—Color 5:30 RIFLEMAN—Western Evening 6:00 NEWS 6:30 NEW BREED—Police 7:30 OZZIE AND HARRIET 8:00 PATTY DUKE—Comedy 8:30 SHINDIG—Music Guests: the Chambers Brothers, Glenn Campbell, Jimmy Boyd, Willy Nelson, Sonny and Cher, Linda Gall, Ray Peterson, the Blossoms, the Wellingtons. Host: Jimmy O’Neill 9:30 BURKE’S LAW—Mystery 10:30 MARSHAL DILLON—Western 11:00 NEWS 11:30 MOVIE—Drama “Two Women” (Italian-French; 1960)
12 KHSL (CHICO) (CBS) Morning 7:30 EXISTENCE—U. of California 8:00 CAPTAIN KANGAROO 9:00 NEWS—Mike Wallace 9:30 I LOVE LUCY—Comedy 10:00 ANDY GRIFFITH 10:30 McCOYS—Comedy 11:00 LOVE OF LIFE 11:25 NEWS 11:30 SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial 11:45 GUIDING LIGHT—Serial Afternoon 12:00 OUR MISS BROOKS—Comedy 12:30 AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial 1:00 PASSWORD—Game Contestants: Juliet Prowse, George Hamilton 1:30 HOUSE PARTY Guest: Arlene Dahl 2:00 TO TELL THE TRUTH Panelists: Sally Ann Howes, Dick Patterson, Jan Murray, Joan Fontaine. Host: Bud Collyer 2:25 NEWS 2:30 EDGE OF NIGHT 3:00 SECRET STORM 3:30 JACK BENNY—Comedy 4:00 MOVIE—Comedy “The Mating of Millie” (1948) 5:30 HAVE GUN—WILL TRAVEL Evening 6:00 NEWS 6:30 NEWS—Walter Cronkite 7:00 RIFLEMAN—Western 7:30 MISTER ED—Comedy 8:00 MY LIVING DOLL 8:30 BEVERLY HILLBILLIES 9:00 DICK VAN DYKE 9:30 OUR PRIVATE WORLD DEBUT 10:00 DANNY KAYE—Variety Guests: Peter Falk, Pete Fountain and his combo, Michele Lee 11:00 NEWS 11:25 MOVIE—Comedy “True to Life” (1943)
13 KOVR (SACRAMENTO) (ABC) Morning 6:40 NEWS 6:45 LET’S SPEAK ENGLISH 7:00 CARTOONLAND—Children 7:45 MICKEY MOUSE CLUB 8:15 KING AND ODIE—Cartoons 8:30 MOVIE—Drama “Stromboli” (Italian; 1950) 9:50 HELEN BALE—Interviews 10:00 FATHER KNOWS BEST—Comedy 10:30 DONNA REED—Comedy 11:00 REBUS—Game 11:30 PRICE IS RIGHT Panelist: Vivian Vance Afternoon 12:00 NEWS 12:15 TODAY IN AGRICULTURE 12:30 MOVIE—Mystery “Bedelia” (English; 1947) 2:00 FLAME IN THE WIND 2:30 DAY IN COURT 2:55 NEWS—Marlene Sanders 3:00 GENERAL HOSPITAL 3:30 YOUNG MARRIEDS 4:00 TRAILMASTER 5:00 CAP’N DELTA—Children 5:30 ROCKY AND HIS FRIENDS Evening 6:00 NEWS 6:15 NEWS—Bob Young 6:30 WELLS FARGO—Western 7:00 HAVE GUN—WILL TRAVEL 7:30 OZZIE AND HARRIET 8:00 PATTY DUKE—Comedy 8:30 SHINDIG—Music Guests: the Chambers Brothers, Glenn Campbell, Jimmy Boyd, Willy Nelson, Sonny and Cher, Linda Gall, Ray Peterson, the Blossoms, the Wellingtons. Host: Jimmy O’Neill 9:30 BURKE’S LAW—Mystery 10:30 DETECTIVES—Police 11:00 NEWS 11:30 NIGHTLIFE—Variety Guest host: William B. Williams 1:00 NEWS
TV
April 29, 2023
This week in TV Guide: May 1, 1965
If you're my age or a little older, and come next month I'll be a little older than my age now, you probably remember the two words: "Early Bird." Not as in "The early bird gets the worm," which was only useful when your mom was trying to get you up for school, but the Early Bird communications satellite, which presented equal parts interest for television fans and space enthusiasts alike.Early Bird, formally known as the Intelsat I, is the world's first commercial communications satellite; it was launched on April 6 to provide a TV link between Europe and North America, and this Sunday it's ready to go online, with a live 60-minute broadcast on all three networks at 10:00 a.m. PT. The broadcast showcases, appropriately, several events utilizing new age technology: a heart-value operation performed in Houston by Dr. Michael DeBakey, shown live for an audience in Geneva, Switzerland, who were able to ask Dr. DeBakey questions in real time; the Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros warming up for their game in the new Houston Astrodome, which had just opened the previous week; astronaut Alan Shepard in training; a test of the Concorde supersonic jet engine in Britain; and a variety of musical presentations, including bands playing the same piece from five different cities.
Early Bird programming continues on Monday morning, as NBC's Today originates live from London (7:00 a.m.), where Hugh Downs moderates a discussion between Members of Parliament and congressmen in Washington, and Frank Blair reports the news. Meanwhile, Barbara Walters is in Paris coveraing a fashion show; Jack Lescoulie tours a children's village in Amsterdam; and Aline Sarrinen discusses early Roman architecture from Caroline Hill in the Eternal City. At noon, CBS presents the first live Town Meeting of the World, with a panel including Secretary of State Dean Rusk, former presidental candidate Barry Goldwater, and former British Prime Minister Sir Alec Douglas-Home, as they discuss Vietnam; the program will be repeated at 10:00 p.m. NBC's Chet Huntley broadcasts the Huntley-Brinkley Report from London, and Peter Jennings does the same with ABC's evening news. Huntley also joins BBC newsman Richard Dimbleby (who reports from New York) on Panorama (7:30 p.m., NBC) to discuss the stories they've covered during their long careers. All of these programs are live broadcasts which are shown on tape delay in the Pacific time zone, where this week's issue originates.
Of course, we're used to this kind of thing today, but it was extraordinary back in 1965, and there was something exciting about seeing "live via Early Bird satellite" appear at the beginning of a broadcast. Initially, the networks were allowed free use of Early Bird, which resulteds in live coverage of all kinds of events, from the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June to the splashdown of Gemini 6 in December. (Of course, once Comsat announced their intention to start collecting fees for Early Bird's use, some of that extraneous coverage stopped) Early Bird had only 240 voice circuits, so it could only transmit one TV channel at a time. Soon there would be more satellites up there; Early Bird itself was only designed to operate for 18 months, but lasted until January 1969. It was reactivated that June for the Apollo 11 mission when another of the Intelsat satellites failed, and one last time in 1990 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its launch. It's still up there, in case you ever get a chance to loook it up.
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During the 60s, the Ed Sullivan Show and The Hollywood Palace were the premiere variety shows on television. Whenever they appear in TV Guide together, we'll match them up and see who has the best lineup.Sullivan: Ed’s scheduled guests are comedians Sid Caesar and Nancy Walker, who appear in a sketch; the Rolling Stones, British rock ‘n’ rollers; songstress Leslie Uggams; comedienne Totie Fields; British singer Tom Jones; Morecambe and Wise, British comedy team; and contortionist Gitta Morelly.
Palace: The host is jazzman Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong, who is saluted for his 50 years in show business and his role as a traveling goodwill ambassador. Actor Edward G. Robinson reads tributes from the President and the Senate, and other accolades are offered by guests Jimmy Durante, blues singer Diahann Carroll, comics Rowan and Martin and the Ballet Folklorico of Mexico.
Sometimes weekly lineups underwhelm. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just the way showbiz is; you can't have a superstar lineup each week. Ah, but this week, who ya gonna pick? Sid Caesar, the Stones, Tom Jones and others, or Satchmo, Eddie G., The Schnozzola, and a message from POTUS? You can't go wrong either way, but even though this isn't the infamous Stones appearance that got them banned from Sullivan, I think I have to give the nod to Ed. That's just my opinion, though—if you're not sure, you can see ten minutes of the Stones and Tom Jones from Sullivan, and you can compare that to the Palace show and see what you think.
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Throughout the 60s and early 70s, TV Guide's weekly reviews were written by the witty and acerbic Cleveland Amory. Whenever we get the chance, we'll look at Cleve's latest take on the shows of the era. Every MST3K fan out there knows that Gypsy's hero is the one and only Richard Basehart. He's also the hero, or one of them, on the show in Cleveland Amory's bulls-eye this week: Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. And guess what? He doesn't hate it! I know; that sounds like faint praise, but he says your children will love it and, more often than not, it will give you some escape. "And these days, that's not too bad, television fare being what it is."
Casting Basehart as Admiral Harriman Nelson was, I think, a stroke of genius; he was a familiar face from both television and the movies, and he projects a gravitas and dignity that is often missing from these kinds of shows. Amory finds him "admirable," [sic] and he plays the role straight, which, "considering the plots and dialog" isn't easy. David Hedison co-stars as Captain Lee Crane, and even though he was offered (and declined) the role of Crane in the original movie version, Amory finds him a less successful character—"possibly because, the way his role is written, he doesn't seem to have any." The remainder of the supporting cast, as well as many of the guest stars, fare better.
One episode in particular seems to have captured Cleve's fancy; it concerns a mission that Nelson and Crane leave the Seaview to undertake; they wind up on an island, where they encounter a mad scientist and a general from the People's Republic of China, back when it was still permissible to portray them as part of the evil empire. "Something is watching us," Nelson tells Crane, and sure enough—the mad scientist has been following their every move via closed-circuit television. "In fact," Amory notes, "from that time on, the entire episode turns out to turn on whether or not the boys are going to be able to turn off their own show." It sets up for a thrilling conclusion—but if you think you're going to read about it here, you're mistaken. Says Cleve, "if you think we’re going to spoil the summer rerun of this gem for you, we’re not."
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The first Saturday in May tells us it's time for the annual "Run for the Roses," and since this Saturday is May 1, it's off to Churchill Downs in Louisville for the 91st Kentucky Derby (2:00 p.m., CBS). This year's winner is one of the lesser-known Derby victors, Lucky Debonair; he was injured in the Preakness and didn't run in the Belmont. Saturday night, as is always the case in this television season, Jim Backus goes up against himself; he's the voice of Mr. Magoo (8:30 p.m., NBC), whose famous adventure this week is "Moby Dick"; he's also Thurston Howell III in Gilligan's Island (8:30 p.m., CBS). It's the only time in television history that the same actor has appeared on two different networks in two different shows scheduled against each other. And for late-night movie fans, there's a Ronald Reagan double feature; Hellcats of the Navy (11:20 p.m., KPIX) stars the Gipper and wife Nancy; while in The Winning Team (midnight, KTVU), he plays baseball star Grover Cleveland Alexander. Dutch also features in possibly his best-known role, that of Drake McHugh, the man whose legs are amputated, in Sunday's Kings Row (11:35 p.m., KTVU). His famous line from that movie, "Where's the rest of me?" will also be the title of Reagan's first autobiography.
During the mid-1960s, ABC featured a number of stars acting as tour guides of their native country; Elizabeth Taylor in London in 1963, Sophia Loren in Rome in 1964, and Inger Stevens in Sweden just this last February. Tonight, it's Melina Mercouri's Greece (9:00 p.m., ABC), "a fascinating hour with this glamorous star in her native land." That goes up against The American West (9:00 p.m., NBC), as Lorne Greene goes on location to tell the story of Ben Cartwright's native land, the Old West. Oh, and Tom Bosley plays a man claiming to be a leprechaun in Ben Casey (10:00 p.m., ABC). Coincidentally, there's also a leprechaun at the heart of the 1948 movie Luck of the Irish (11:00 p.m., KPIX); in this case, Cecil Kellaway is the leprechaun; he'd get an Oscar nomination for Supporting Actor for his performance. And it isn't even St. Patrick's Day—what are the odds?
Tuesday night is the farewell episode of That Was the Week That Was (9:30 p.m., NBC), which never caught on in this country the way its British counterpart did, even with the presence of David Frost. Nancy Ames, Buck Henry, and Pat Englund are also part of this final show; its replacement will be the anthology series Cloak of Mystery, "a series of rerun dramas."
Wednesday sees the premiere of Our Private World (9:30 p.m., CBS), a spin-off from As the World Turns, with Eileen Fulton reprising her role as Lisa Hughes. Don't know if you remember, but our very own Cleveland Amory shared his thoughts about the show in
this issue
. Airing on both Wednesday and Friday nights, Our Private World is CBS's attempt to compete with ABC's Peyton Place, but the ratings are apparently private as well; the series only lasts until September, berfore Lisa returns home. My, doesn't she look young here?And here's a show we desperately need now: "The Solutions to all the World's Problems in 53 Minutes and 27 Seconds," this week's edition of The Open Mind (Friday, 9:00 p.m., KQED), with host Eric Goldmen's guests, cartoonist-satirist Jules Feiffer, author Marya Mannes (whom we're read in this space before), actor-comedian Milt Kamen, and author Paul Krassner.
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Following up on last month's cover story about Vince "Ben Casey" Edwards, Henry Harding reports this week that Sam Jaffe, who plays Casey's mentor Dr. Zorba, is leaving the series. There's no mention of Edwards in the story; Harding simply says that Jaffe "has long been bored with the role and eager to relinquish it," and quotes Jaffe as saying he's "So, so happy!" to be leaving. "Why not? I didn't have enough to do. It was like the Chinese water torture." Later on, we'll find out that Edwards' unprofessionalism played a large part in Jaffe's departure.
That's not the only departure in this week's industry review. It's the last roundup for Eric Fleming, who's riding into the sunset on Rawhide, leaving Clint Eastwood to head up the show. Fleming is one of several regulars departing the series; Eastwood and Paul Brinegar (Wishbone) will be joined by some new characters for the coming season, which will be the series' last.
Ever wonder what those stars do when their series ends? TV Teletype tells us that these stars of old TV series are soon to appear in new ones: Robert Conrad (Hawaiian Eye) heads for The Wild, Wild West; Edmond O'Brien (Sam Benedict) is in store for The Long, Hot Summer; Peter Brown (Lawman) stays in the west in The Streets of Laredo; and Richard Long (Bourbon Street Beat and 77 Sunset Strip) will be in The Big Valley with Barbara Stanwyck (The Barbara Stanwyck Show). But let's not forget Dennis James, "who has probably been on more panel shows than anybody," has been signed as host/emcee of a new one, Silent Partners. Unfortunately, it never makes it past the pilot.
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Finally, among the missing in action this week is Wendy and Me, the ABC-Warner Bros. sitcom starring Connie Stevens and George Burns, preempted this week for the aforementioned Melina Mercouri special. The show's charm, writes Richard Warren Lewis, is in its resemblance to the old Burns and Allen series, with Connie assuming the scatterbrain role of Gracie Allen. However, not all of the nation's viewers shares Lewis's assessment of the show; its ratings, up against Lucille Ball and Andy Williams, have lagged all season, and last month it was missing from ABC's 1965-66 schedule.
Don't shed any tears for her, though; "she has decorated more than 200 covers of fan magazines and once was named among the Nation’s most admired women in a Gallup poll," and she admits that the thought of being in a long-term series panicked her; "I just don't have the emotional capacity to stick with something for that long." One wonders if that includes marriage; after recounting this tidbit, Lewis goes on to mention her two-year marriage to actor James Stacy. Although Stacy had completed a movie with Hayley Mills just before the marriage, he hasn't been that active lately—and Stevens has. "My wife has given me two more years to support me," Lewis reports Stacy as having confided to friends. And about Connie, he says, "I've learned to live with her." (They would be divorced next year.)She's determined to succeed in the business (Hedda Hopper calls her "an apple blossom with the wham of a bulldozer") and she lobbied hard for the role of the young wife in the movie version of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, which eventually went to Sandy Dennis. She was frustrated during her years on WB's Hawaiian Eye that she wasn't allowed to take on more substantive roles or perform in night clubs. and when she refused to go on a personal appearances tour, Warners suspended her. (It was settled "amicably"). Even though her new Warners contract permits those nightclub apperances, and allowed her to appear earlier this season on The Hollywood Palace and The Red Skelton Hour, she still remembers the dispute. "I haven't worked with that many great actors," she says of her time with WB. "I've been with Warner Brothers for too long."
For all this, Connie Stevens looks forward to the future. She's concentrating on displaying a more mature image (she wears fashionable hats, appears ceaselessly at charity events, and even hired a full-time personal manager). And she doesn't read the fan magazines anymore,even though she does look at the pictures. "And still I get upset, because I don't look like Elizabeth Taylor." Not to worry, though; her second marriage is to Liz's ex-husband, Eddie Fisher. The next-best thing, I suppose. TV
April 28, 2023
Around the dial
Later today, I'll be guesting on the Dan Schneider Video Interview, discussing the classic version of The Outer Limits. Since not all of you read this on Friday, I'll update with the link as soon as it's available; you'll also be able to get the link at my Facebook and Twitter pages.At Comfort TV, David takes a fond look back at Blondie Street , the Warner Bros. street where you could find the homes seen on The Partridge Family, Dennis the Menace, I Dream of Jeannie, and other favorites from our youth. They've started tearing them down now; another part of our heritage disappearing. Be sure to read about it.
John's at it again at Cult TV Blog, with another bizarre show from 1970s British TV: The Pink Medicine Show . It's a comedy sketch show involving and written by doctors; some compare it to Monty Python, but it sounds to me as if it defies a neat description, so see what John has to say about it.
Remember the PBS series Alive from Off Center? It ran for twelve seasons, concluding in 1996. At the Broadcast Archives, it's a look at some pictures from "A Tribute to Georges Méliès," a 1989 episode in which "the silent film pioneer's lost scriplts were reinterpreted by modern filmmakers." Hopefully it encourages you to read more about the series.
Another sterling Aventers review from Roger at The View from the Junkyard; this time, it's the episode " A Surfeit of H20 ," a rare Avengers story that's pure science fiction: what happens when someone starts controlling the weather? It might not be as ridiculous as it seems. . .
Travalanche looks at the contributions of Universal studios to the world of animation, which centers on a character so many of us were introduced to on television when we were kids: Woody Woodpecker. Find out more about Woody's creator, Walter Lanz, and the impact made by his creations (more than just Woody!).
The great Harry Belafonte died this week, aged 96. He was one of the most influential entertainer/activists, with a talent for acting, music, and raising awareness of civil rights. At A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence looks back at his career, which included many appearances on television, including a memorable week as host on The Tonight Show.
Drunk TV is back, as Paul reviews a live-action Hanna-Barbera series! It's Korg: 70,000 B.C. , and the complete series of this Saturday morning show was released on DVD a few years ago. Was this a favorite of your childhood? Wondering if it might be for you? See what Paul thinks.
Oh, and the picture at the top? If I'm not very much mistaken, that's a pregnant Jackie Kennedy watching her hubby being nominated for president at the 1960 Democratic Convention, back when political conventions meant something. You don't see pictures like this anymore. TV
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Insightful commentary on how classic TV shows mirrored and influenced American society, tracing the impact of iconic series on national identity, cultural change, and the challenges we face today.
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